Fire watch as permit period starts

Forestry Tasmania's fire officer in the north-east keeps watch from a tower near George Town

ABC, Emily Bryan

Tasmanian land owners will need a permit to burn more than one cubic metre of their property from midnight tonight.

The bushfire season is expected to be hotter and drier than last year and the introduction of the permit period coincides with Forestry Tasmania manning some of its 14 fire towers.

They include the Dazzler Range tower which offered the best view of a fire that tore through bushland behind Beaconsfield and threatened the local hospital last January.

Forestry Tasmania's fire management officer, Bob Knox, says the towers are invaluable heading into what is expected to be a hot, dry summer.

"They're one of the oldest technologies I suppose in looking for wildfires and they've been very very successful because they're always there, the tower men are always there and looking and it's a great skill they have sort of keeping concentration and always looking around for smoke," said Mr Knox.

Mr Knox says it has been a busy start to the bushfire season.

"We've already had 14 fires in Bass this year and the bulk of those have been arson."

"There's been the odd escape off private property but most of those have been sort of fires that have just sort of appeared there.

"We spend a lot of time investigating them so that's quite disappointing," Mr Knox said.

The five people manning towers in the north and north-east map fires and report them to Forestry Tasmania's base at Scottsdale